7 Female Performance Artists You Need To Know Abou...

Earlier this month, women took center stage at Art Basel Miami from Pratt Institute’s panel discussion on Women in the Business of Art, to the all female show at the Rubell Family Collection No Man’s Land. A particularly strong showing was made by a slew of popular female performance artists who created feminist interventions to reclaim space in a male-saturated art world. Performances were held at different public art fairs, as well as hotel rooms (Fuck Boi Funeral, a show curated by Petra Collins and Madelyne Beckles), and abandoned pharmacies (The Pharmacy by Otion Front).

In case performance art isn’t your thing, here are a few women that aren’t afraid to make bold statements about gender and equality, even if it makes you a little uncomfortable.

Kate Durbin

Hello Selfie Perfomance Art by Kate Durbin Photo: Rollin Leonard

The LA based writer, artist, and curator criticizes our self-obsession with her Hello Selfie performance piece, during which women covered in Hello Kitty stickers publicly take selfies in their underwear and upload the photos to social media in real time. For the fourth iteration of the performance at PULSE Art Fair, Durbin and her selfie squad began in the fair’s corridors before migrating to the beach, startling and confusing fair go-ers and vacationers alike.

Alexandra Marzella

Photo: Madelyne Beckles and Petra Collins

Also known as @artwerk6666, Marzella is a New York-based artist who has gained a lot of attention this year for the confrontation of narcissism in her relentlessly honest selfies, videos, and performances. The artist shows her often-naked body in compromising erotic poses and movements exploring the intersection of attraction and narcissism.

FLUCT

Photo courtesy of Monica Mirable’s website

FLUCT is the collaboration of Brooklyn artists Monica Marabile and Sigrid Lauren, who also co-run the Bushwick-based performance residency, OTION Front. Interested in sexuality, control, and the role of technology in American society, their choreographed movements come together to form a glitch in the interaction between culture and social systems that affect identity.

India Salvör Menuez

Menuez seems to be everywhere lately from film to fashion and music, but it is her role as the founder of the Luck You Collective that best capture’s Menuez creative prowess. Here she showcases her own performances, drawings, videos and films – as well as the work of other previously mentioned performance powerhouses, Alexandra Marzella and Monica Mirabile. If someone is bravely expressing a female agenda, she’s likely to be close by.

Giovanna Olmos

Photo: Dumbo Books of Brooklyn

The New York-based poet, artist, and performer creates work that dissects the intersection of technology and art. Her newest work, How To Sell A Digital Painting, features the artist awkwardly going through a list of fairly obvious guidelines with her audience, ultimately ending with “9. The painting is no longer yours. You may not post it anywhere or send it to anyone else. Delete the photo from your personal collection is a good idea.10. Like the collector’s Venmo payment to show your appreciation of the exchange.”

Signe Pierce

Screenshot from American Reflexxx by Director Alli Coates

Interested in deconstructing the beauty industry, Pierce’s performances investigate how companies cash in on female empowerment and advertise products to fuel women’s sense of self-worth. Her short film with Director Alli Coates, American Reflexxx went viral this year, which shows Pierce walking down South Calrolina’s Myrtle Beach in a blue mini-dress, high heels, and a reflective mask while being subjected to misogyny, transphobia, and physical aggression.

Narcissister

Photo: Narcissister’s website

Hidden behind her signature creepy mask, Narcissister’s spectacular performances explore stereotypes of gender, racial identity, and sexuality. The often-humorous performances also question fetishism and the role of racism and sexism in modern constructs of sexuality.

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Adriana Pauly is a curator and art writer with a MFA in Contemporary Art, based in New York. She specializes in artwork by emerging female artists as well as Latin American art. She has been published by Missy Magazine, Autre Magazine and is currently the Content Coordinator of Art Report.